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Former King of Romania Is Welcomed Home Again

A handsome young monarch when he was dethroned by the Communists at gunpoint 50 years ago, Michael of Romania made an emotional homecoming today, the first where he was truly welcomed by the Government and people alike.

Unlike the former Communists who barely tolerated the former King's presence five years ago and banned all further visits, the new centrist Government has embraced him as a gallant soldier of World War II and a real citizen.

Now 75 and still ramrod straight, Michael appeared visibly moved and teary as he arrived at the airport from his exile in Switzerland. President Emil Constantinescu reinstated his citizenship last week, and an official handed him his new passport on the tarmac.

So as not to roil the former Communists, still seething from their electoral defeat in November, the new Government and Michael agreed to call this visit private. It appeared, however, that the six days would be anything but private.

In the university square where students and others were killed in 1989 during the violent overthrow of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Michael paid homage to the dead. Crowds, smaller than during his first visit in 1992 but enthusiastic, pressed around him, and students clambered to the roof of the university building and hung out the windows, urging him to speak.

Keeping to his vow not to make statements, he replied into a hand-held microphone, ''I love you all, don't forget that.''

Only a small minority of Romanians favor restoration of the monarchy. But in many quarters, including young people who were in the crowds today, Michael is admired as a man of principle. In 1944, when Romania was ruled by the fascist general Ion Antonescu and was allied with the Nazis, Michael, then 23, organized a coup. He had General Antonescu arrested, and he declared Romania on the side of the Allies.

In doing so, according to Hannah Pakula, a historian of the Romanian monarchy, Michael hoped to preserve his country from Russian occupation and help the Allies. ''Although his action saved many Allied lives, it was impossible to prevent the Soviet occupation of Romania,'' Mrs. Pakula wrote in ''Queen of Romania'' the story of Michael's grandmother, Princess Marie.

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In 1945, when the Communists staged a coup of their own, King Michael was the last monarch left in the Eastern bloc. In 1947, at a lakeside villa in Bucharest, where he and his wife, Anne, Princess of Bourbon-Parma, will stay during the current visit, the 26-year-old King was forced to sign abdication papers. He was allowed to take some luggage, four cars but no royal furnishings. ''Not even an ashtray,'' he recalled later.

Soon after the execution of Mr. Ceausescu, Michael talked about returning to Romania as a symbolic monarch. But he has since dropped the idea and has pledged to respect the 1991 Constitution that defines Romania as a presidential republic. He has said he will not claim royal property seized by the Communists.

In many ways, his return appeared to mark a return to normality in Romanian politics. The crowds were much smaller today than the tens of thousands who cheered him five years ago -- a sign, many said, of the feeling of stability that the new Government has brought.

''He is very special for us -- very modest, intelligent and religious,'' said Christian Mancas, 43, a computer engineer who was in the crowd at university square with a videocamera. ''We would like him on the throne, but we know it's impossible now. And we quite like the Government.''

President Constantinescu, who has invited Michael to a working dinner on Tuesday, has expressed his eagerness to enlist him in the Government's long-shot effort to get Romania included among the new members of an expanded NATO. They have asked him, as a diplomat at large, to make Romania's NATO case around Europe.

Washington has said it is lukewarm about the idea of inviting Romania to join NATO along with the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, but Mr. Constantinescu has made membership a top priority.

And in Michael he sees a usable ally. ''Let's not forget that six NATO members are constitutional monarchies,'' Mr. Constantinescu said of the former King's planned sallies around NATO's member countries.

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A version of this article appears in print on March 1, 1997, on Page 1001003 of the National edition with the headline: Former King of Romania Is Welcomed Home Again. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe